Men’s Premier League Round 15 Wrap

THE last round of action in the Fremantle and UWA Conferences in the Men’s Premier League took place last Saturday with victories for the Dolphins, Port Colts, UWA City Beach and UWA Flotsam.

While there is still one round of Cross Conference matches to go for the 2017-18 season in the Men’s Premier League, the last action for the regular season in the Fremantle and UWA Conferences took place last Saturday ahead of the finals to be played in March.

That saw a fascinating round of fixtures last Saturday starting at Bicton Pool in the Fremantle Conference with Dolphins beating the South Fremantle Bloods 11-5 while the Port Colts defeated the Melville Sharks 19-8.

And in the UWA Conference at the HBF Stadium outdoor pool, UWA City Beach defeated the UWA Rangers 14-8 and UWA Flotsam prevailed over Triton 11-4.

That means in the Fremantle Conference, the Port Colts end up finishing on top with an 8-4 record ahead of the South Fremantle Bloods who were also 8-4.

The Melville Sharks finished third at 5-7 while the Dolphins brought up the rear at 3-9.

And in the UWA Conference, the UWA Rangers finished on top at 8-4 ahead of UWA Flotsam (7-5), Triton (6-6) and UWA City Beach (3-9).

The Round 15 Men’s Premier League action in the Fremantle Conference at Bicton Pool began with the South Fremantle Bloods facing Dolphins.

Dolphins started well with the first goal thanks to Andras Jo-Kovacs. The Bloods responded with a goal to Michael Brown but Dolphins took charge to lead 4-1 by quarter-time after scores to Tibor Seress (two) and James Beare.

Despite South Fremantle scoring first in the second quarter thanks to Scott Chrystal, Dolphins remained on top heading into half-time leading 6-2 and 8-3 by three quarter-time.

Another three goals to two in the last quarter saw Dolphins beat the Bloods 11-5.

Peter Gaunt, Jeremy Carbone, Tibor Seress and Andras Jo-Kovacs all scored two goals apiece for Dolphins. Michael Brown scored four of the five goals for South Fremantle.

Brown was awarded the three votes after the game, Gaunt the two and Seress the one.

Then also at Bicton Pool, Port Colts played the Melville Sharks with the Colts getting off to a flying start with eight goals to one in the opening quarter.

That set up the eventual win with Port Colts scoring another four goals to two in the second term, four to three in the third and three to two in the fourth for the 19-8 victory.

And at HBF Stadium, UWA City Beach played the UWA Rangers with the youth of the City Beach team prevailing against a Rangers team missing their experienced UWA Torpedoes contingent.

City Beach started well with the only three goals of the first quarter and they still led 6-3 by half-time. City Beach maintained that advantage with four goals to three in the third period and four to two in the fourth to win 14-8.

Also at HBF Stadium, UWA Flotsam took on Triton with Flotsam scoring the opening two goals through Ben McCleery and Phil Salter. Triton did respond courtesy of Matt Oberman but Flotsam went to quarter-time leading 3-1 after another score from Charlie Liggins.

The lead for Flotsam soon became 4-1 with a goal from Drew Lilleyman and that’s how it stayed at half-time for the change of ends.

Triton managed to score first in the second half through Lewis Putt, but Flotsam remained in control going on to lead 6-3 by three quarter-time. They rammed home their advantage with five goals to one in the last quarter to win 11-4.

Phil Salter and Drew Lilleyman both scored three goals each for Flotsam with Charlie Liggins contributing two as did Ben McCleery.

Matt Oberman scored two goals for Triton.

Triton goalkeeper Hamish St George received the three votes with Salter given the two and Liggins the one.

The last round of Cross Conference action takes place next on Saturday March 10. At Bicton Pool, the South Fremantle Bloods play UWA Flotsam and the Dolphins take on UWA City Beach.

And at Beatty Park, the UWA Rangers play the Port Colts and Triton takes on the Melville Sharks.